Marriage Matters

Seventy-four

For all of her bravado, Chloe’s stomach felt like it was filled with thorns when it came time to tell her grandmother that she would not be sharing the wedding. They sat at the dining room table, the same one where they had spent so many Thursday nights. The words came out very clean and practical, then Chloe burst into tears.

June absorbed the information quietly, her eyes shutting only briefly with pain.

“I’m sorry, Grandma.” Chloe reached out and touched her arm. “I know how important this day is to you. I know that you wanted to share it with me and Mom. But I can’t marry Geoff. I’m in love with Ben. I always have been.”

June looked down at the table.

“I wanted to go through with it,” Chloe pleaded, grabbing her hands. “I almost did it because . . . because I wanted to make you happy.”

“That’s the most foolish thing I have ever heard,” June snapped. “I thought you were smart.”

Chloe made a face. “Smart, maybe. Brave? No. I just couldn’t marry a man I didn’t love.”

“Well. Of course not.” Placing her chin in her hand, June gazed off into the backyard. The garden was covered with clean white snow. “Out of curiosity, would being with Ben make you happy?”

At the idea, an odd picture flashed through Chloe’s mind. That moment when she and Ben were both standing on the ice and he told her things between them would never be the same. “Yes,” she said. “Nothing could make me happier. But . . .” She shook her head. “That will never happen.”

“Why?” June said. “If you feel this way about this young man . . .”

“Grandma, I know we haven’t done those dance lessons quite yet,” Chloe said, patting her hand, “but I hear it takes two to tango.”

Shaking her head, June gave a little sigh. “Well. I got my wish. This wedding certainly is going to be the biggest thing Chicago has ever seen. Think of the scandal. I can see the headline in the society pages now: Here Comes the Bride. Maybe.”

Chloe bit her lip. “Is it bad that I want to laugh?”

June gave her a stern look. “I would not recommend it. Not at this moment in time.”

Chloe fiddled with the corner of a red placemat. It was woven through with silver sparkles. “Do you think you’ll ever forgive me?”

“Darling girl,” June said. “This is your life. I want the best for you. That is all that I have ever wanted and that I ever will want. Everything else is just noise.”

* * *

Later that night, June sat in the chair in Charley’s den, staring at the fire burning in the fireplace. More snow was blowing outside and tiny pellets of ice tapped at the window. She was perfectly cozy, wrapped in a white blanket lined with faux fur, but her heart was troubled. So much had gone wrong with Kristine and Chloe. June couldn’t help but think that, in some way, it was all her fault.

Charley walked into the room, carefully balancing a tray. On it sat two mugs of hot, milky tea and a plate of biscotti. Jumping to her feet, June went to help him.

“You sit back down this instant,” Charley told her, setting the tray on the table between them. “Let someone do something for you for a change.”

June sat, gratefully accepting the warm cup. The heat helped soothe the arthritic ache that seemed to affect her hands when she wasn’t using them every day, out in the garden.

“Now.” Charley settled into the chair across from her. “I intend to say something to you and I don’t want you to get angry.”

June sighed. “Just say it.”

“It seems to me . . .” Charley picked up his mug of tea and took a thoughtful sip. “It seems to me that I was wrong.”

June froze. “What?”

“I was wrong, June. I thought that your meddling was causing trouble but it was doing just the opposite. It was keeping your family together.”

Charley pulled out the drawer on the table between them. Taking out a deck of playing cards, he shuffled with cool precision. Then he dealt them out a game of gin.

“Charley, you don’t have to say that.” June sighed. It had been so foolish to suggest to Rue that her grandson should propose to Chloe. What a mess that had turned out to be. “It turns out you were right.”

“I most certainly was not.” Charley was wearing a light blue sweater and a plaid sweater vest. As he said all this, June couldn’t help but notice that his eyes were an even brighter blue than usual. “Perhaps some of your suggestions were ill-guided, but your heart was in the right place.”

June didn’t answer, just picked up his discard.

“At the moment, your family appears to be falling apart.” Charley’s voice was quiet. “I doubt it’s a coincidence. You need to step in.”

“Absolutely not.” June rearranged her cards. “You told me very clearly that I need to let my family make their own decisions and their own mistakes.”

Charley took a sip of tea. “Well,” he chuckled, “they’ve certainly done that. Now, it seems to me that they need some guidance on how to put everything back together.”

June considered that. Suddenly, she blinked. The hand she was holding was very heavy on hearts.

“It seems like that Ben is a nice kid,” Charley said, his voice thoughtful. “Chloe sure did seem to brighten when she brought him around here.”

June looked at him in surprise. “When on earth did you meet Ben?”

“Oh . . .” Charley took a bite of biscotti. “It seems like I might have seen him around here once or twice.”

For heaven’s sake. Ben hadn’t been to this house in . . . at least a year, when he and Chloe stopped by after biking along the lake. She and Charley hadn’t even been speaking yet.

“Charley Montgomery,” June said, starting to laugh. “How long, exactly, have you been watching me?”

He smiled. “Oh, I’d guess just about the same amount of time you’ve been watching me.”

Goodness, she loved this man. June pressed her lips together to hide a tiny smile. Selecting a piece of biscotti, she dipped it into her tea.

Charley reached out and put his warm hand over hers. “Lead your family, June,” he said. “I was wrong to tell you otherwise.”

June drew the next card in the deck. The Queen of Hearts, exactly the card that she needed. Laying down her hand, she said, “Ha! I win.”

“Well, look at that,” he said. “An entire hand of hearts. If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.”

June looked down at the cards, then back up at him. “Why, Charley Montgomery.” She shook her finger at him. “Don’t you think for one moment that I don’t know that you stacked that deck.”